Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-03-01
DELUSIONS OF THE DAY.
D. YATES LEWIS LECTURE AT
MASONIC HALL.

world Likes buEs-The w htlnS OF
Great Nations and What They Have
Led To.
An audience unusually fine as to num-
bers, intelligence aud culture, heard with
much interest last night Capt. 5. Yates
Levy's highly entertaining and lnstruc-
tive lecture at Masonic Hall on Popular
Delusions.n
The lecturers intention, as he himself
defined it, was to deliver plain and I'M
vanished account of errors, fOllies and
nelusions which have in the past misled
humanity to their misfortune. Though
the remarkable experiences Of Sir John
Vaudeville and of Marco Polo are now
classed with the adventures Of CULVER
and OF Robinson Crusoe, and this age OF
railway guides and bandbooks OF travel
believes itself beyond the power OF false
hood and deception, review of the many
,absurdltIes which have in the past alb
soroed the attention OF the human family
may not prove improbable" remarked
the speaker.
THE WORLD LIKES HUMBUGS.
"The monarch, the philosopher, grave
lawyer, or able physician" he continued,
may laugh at the errors and the cred
dtitf vi DySOne generations. Uul uumOuss
omnipotent humbug, still asserts his
dominion. and defeated in one form Pro-
teus-like assumes another at will, and
never tails 10 md his victims, OF all ages
and OF all conditions. Give me- said
"a spot on which to rest my
liver and will lift the globe Ard let
Pde adventurer grasp humbug, as his
lever and rest Ii on mans natural love
OF speculation, and ne will upheave the
gloee OF society. OF traffic, with the force
of a moral earthquake. Thus we find
~ nations. ike Individuals, have their
Whims and their caprices, their seasons
OF excitement and of recklessness;
periods when there rage moral epIdemics
aud kind of madness seizes on the wise
and foolish alike.
THE wHIMs OF NATIONS.
''At one time, France went mad with a
fierce hunger for military glory; another
nation is crazed upon some religious in
novation; the capitalists al I is country
lose their wits In mining speculatiOns:
the working classes are frantic over their
fancied wrongs; and sanity only returns
when. in some cases, rivers OF blood have
been poured forth aud harvest Of groans
reaped by posterity. In the
middle ages Western Europe lost it's
senses and crowded to destruction in a
vain effort to recover the Holy Sepu chre.
Another age went mad from fear Of the
deyil,a and offered up thousands OF victims
10 cruel death under the deluslon of
wiichcratt. At another age people lost
their wits in a search after the phlosO-
piers stone and in pursuit of 1t were
guilty of inconceivable follies. Then
came the moral epidemic of poisoning,
and men, and women especially, thought
nothing of removing an enemy through
the agency OF a dose of poison"
SEEKING THE PHILOSOPHERS STONE.
The deluslon known as the quest for the
Philosophers stone or elixir vital was al
luded to at some length. or the origin of
the delusion nothing is known, the leo
turer remarked. Some of its devotees
give 1t an antiquity coeval with the
creation OF man, while others are content
20 trace IL back no farther than the time
of Noah.
Whenever or wherever it originated, 1t
does not appear to have been much sought
after until the eighth century, when Geber,
an Arabian, began the pursuit. After him
came Aifarabl, Albertus Magnus, Thomas
Aquinas, Raymond Lulli, Roger Bacon,
Bernard OF Treves, all men of education
and learning, and hundreds of others less
distinguished endeavored in turn to cap
ture the prize. Even Pope John Xxi.
was fortunate enough to discover the
marvellous stone, 1t is said.
TRICKS OF THE ALCHEMISTs.
To lecturer then told the story of the
brass servant OF A1bertus Magnus and
Thomas Aquinas, aud narrated some of
the tricks which the alcheIhists used to
impose upon the world. One of these was
N4beatly solder bar of iron to q bar OF
gold, and then paint the golden part the
color of iron. The alchemist would then
paint the golden part the color
of iron, and placing the iron
part in the victims hand tell hin
TO plunge the other end into a glass lar
containing nitric acid, off would come the
paint, and the precious metal would be re-
vealed TO the amaZement of the OPERATOR
An interesting sketch was given OF Cagli-
ostr0, the last of the alchemists-a knave
though. by the way, who had a wonderful
career. Wild as Were the dreams OF the al
chemists, they reared the magic temple of
chemistry, compared with which the dis
. covery of the Philosophers stone aud the
elixir yite were but as tri1es.
SOME GREAT MANIAs.
WichcrafG as popular deluslon was
counted. Then the lecturer briefly
sketched such manias as John Laws
Mississippi scheme, which brought hope
less ruin upon nearly all France; the
South sea BubOle,whIch ran pretty much
the same career in England that Laws
Bcneme ulu In Franco; the tuIfp mania OF
the Dutch $50 years ago, when bulbs of
those flowers were sold by the grain, as
druggists now sell quinine, and brought as
high as $4,000 a tulip. Capt. Levy next
spoke of that repulsive delusion enter
ialned by the Thugs of India, who believe
that as religious duty they must destroy
asNhany OF their fellow creatures as pos
sible.
GREAT DELUSION.
In conclusion, he asked how long it has
been since a nation Of ianatIcs went
crazy over the wrongs OF a race of black
operatives. who were happy,an VINO con-
tributed by their labor to the comfort and
necessity of the world, while they were
themselves self-supporting. The re.
suit was a dreadful war, aud ''seas
OF blood and treasure unlimited
were the price of the delusion, yet out OF
all God will. In His providence and in His
good time work good, while Justice hides
aer face, and posterity will wonder"
The members OF the Youths Historical
Society, in which Capt. Levy has always
taken o great interest, attended in
body.
EVENING OF SONG.
-, ssr1-s
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